1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an operator programmable oven with a menu selection feature for cooking food.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional electric ovens usually are designed to cook food by heating the oven to a set temperature and using a timer to notify the operator when the time is completed. The temperature and cooking time have to be set each time a food product is to be cooked. Ovens of this type are slow and use a lot of energy and are inefficient particularly if a small food product is to be cooked. One type of electrical oven for cooking pizza is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,668.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/281,041, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,114,663 discloses an electrically operated oven for cooking food such as pizza which can cook food quickly and economically and which can be programmed to cook different types of food at different times and temperatures. The oven comprises a housing and support means located in the housing for supporting the food to be cooked. A lower electrical heating element is located below the support means. Two laterally spaced apart upper electrical heating elements are supported above the support means and the food to be cooked. Means is provided for supplying electrical power to the lower electrical heating element and to the two upper electrical heating elements. Control means including a programmable controller is provided for controlling electrical power applied to the lower heating element and to the two upper electrical heating elements to allow electrical power to be applied to each of the two upper electrical heating elements simultaneously or separately.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,914, the controller of the oven is programmed to contain a plurality of menus with each menu being assigned given cooking time and power level parameters for controlling electrical power to the upper heating elements for operating these heating elements either separately or together. A first selection means is provided for selecting any one of the menus for cooking purposes and zone selection means is provided for selecting the desired cooking zone left, right or a combination of the left and right zones. After the cooking process is completed, the controller automatically defaults back to a given menu, for example menu one. Thus the procedure is reduced to two steps to change to a new cooking procedure i.e. selecting the desired menu and then selecting the desired cooking zone, left, right, or a combination of the left and right cooking zones.
In the oven disclosed, a temperature sensor located in the oven has an output which is coupled to the programmable controller. The controller uses this output to control the lower heating element to maintain a set point temperature in the oven of i.e. 550xc2x0 F. It has been found, however, that actuation of the upper left or right broilers or both of them may result in the oven temperature continuing to rise if food items are cooked one after another with each uncooked item inserted into the oven immediately after the cooked one is removed. For example the temperature may rise to a level of 650xc2x0 F. or higher which may burn the pizzas or other food being cooked.
In accordance with the invention, a second broiler temperature setting is provided which is higher than the set point temperature. The second broiler temperature setting may be i.e. 585xc2x0 F. When any of the upper heating elements is actuated and the temperature in the oven rises above the higher temperature setting, the upper heating elements will be disabled or the power thereto reduced until the temperature in the oven falls below the upper temperature setting. This prevents the oven from getting too hot and burning the food.
The process may be employed for ovens that employ a single upper heating element or more than two upper heating elements whether the heating elements are electrical resistance heating elements or other types such as microwave devices.